Cleaning automation

The potential applications of automation for cleaning are many and diverse. All over the world, research organizations and companies are developing automatic cleaning systems [70.1]. Products such as automatic floor cleaning robots and floor vacuum cleaners available for household use are sold ten thousand times over every year at prices below US $300 (Fig. 70.1). While versatile, high-performance systems exist for other applications such as professional floor cleaning, airplane washing, ship cleaning, and facade cleaning, they are by no means as widespread as household systems.